Lift the Veil

Sirius turned over and climbed, more gracefully than James could have, out of his warm four - poster bed. He grimaced when bright, intense sunlight met his still half - awakened eyes. He pointed his wand at the crimson curtains, which swung shut slowly and silently.

'Expulso,' he said, pointing his wand at James' pillow, which burst instantly into shreds.

'ARGH!'

He quickly moved out of view, snickering slightly.

'SIRIUS!' bellowed James, jumping out of bed and looking murderous. The entire effect, however, was marred by the snow white feathers resting on his head and glasses. 'WHAT WAS THAT?'

'Finally,' said Sirius, suppressing a snort, 'I was wondering whether you'd sleep till the evening.'

'Tergeo,' he hissed, pointing his wand at his glasses, 'you could've just yelled or something, for Merlin's sake!'

'You'd sleep through a hurricane, Prongs,' he replied dryly.

'Then you could've thrown water!' he yelled, 'I've - I've swallowed feathers!'

At that, Sirius dissolved into raucous laughter.

'Oh, very funny,' said James grumpily, spitting out a feather, but was interrupted by Remus' loud snore. They turned and saw (for the umpteenth time), in the light of the sun, several scars running along his face and some particularly rugged ones beginning from his hands.

'Full Moon in two days,' said James quietly, after a silence of several moments.

'Yeah,' said Sirius, frowning. 'You sure there's nothing to lessen it?'

'Yeah,' said James, 'there's nothing - not even a simple spell or a potion.'

'Well ...' Sirius trailed off wonderingly.

'There is one possibility, though,' said James slowly, 'I think, I think it just might work. Only we'll need to go to the library today.'

'What's it?' said Sirius quickly.

'I'll have to read more on it.'

There was a pause

'I'm starving,' said James.

'Honestly, Prongs?' said Sirius incredulously, 'you're starving at five in the morning?'

'Yep,' he said pointedly, 'since you've been rude enough to burst my pillow at five in the morning.'

'Necessary, mate,' said Sirius. 'I'm off to the field.'

'For?' said James blankly.

'Got to remove that stupid painting,' he said, shrugging.

'Yeah, that,' James snickered. 'Sticking Charm, probably.'

Sirius nodded and walked out of the Gryffindor Boys Dormitory, shutting the door with a quick snap behind him. He went to the Common Room and climbed through the portrait hole. He turned round the corner and came to a halt in front of a wall adjoining the window, hidden in shadows cast by adjacent walls.

'Specialis Revelio,' he muttered, pointing his wand at the wall. Gradually, discreetly, a part of the wall resembling a door jutted forwards, and from its left part protruded a wooden handle. He wrenched the door open, and stepped outside - outside the castle. This was the darker side of the castle, often shady and welcoming little sunlight. It faced the Forbidden Forest, and from here he could see the little known archway formed by the entwining branches of the witnessing trees and the darkly ominous depths of the forest. A path began here, leading into - as he was certain - the heart of the forest.

He walked swiftly but silently to the lake, and where he had burned the painting, he could see a charred mass, which he knew had little substance and even lesser resilience now.

'Diffindo,' he said, pointing his wand at the mass. Nothing happened. It remained firmly in place.

'Reglutino,' he said. The mass shifted and fell to the ground.

'Evanesco.' It vanished instantly.

'One down,' he said, with some satisfaction. A sudden flash of bright red light made him turn around, wand raised. He moved forwards with a feeling of increasing trepidation. He stopped outside the Gryffindor changing rooms, within which he heard a heated argument. He leaned forwards, listening intently.

'He's been on the team for years, Adrian!' yelled a voice which he recognized as Luke Wood's, beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. 'You can't just throw him out like that!'

'Yeah, I can!' Adrian yelled back, 'maybe you didn't notice, Wood, but I'm the captain, and I'll do what's right for the team!'

Sirius narrowed his eyes. Were they intending to remove James from the team?

'Fine!' snapped Luke, 'you do what you want. I don't know about you, Johnson, but me and the rest of the team think Black's a brilliant player, we won't do much without him.'

Sirius froze. They were discussing whether or not to have him on the team anymore?

'Be as it may,' said Adrian frigidly, 'but we can't have the players fooling around almost every time there's a match. It's high time he realised that -'

'- that I'm not supposed to ruin the match every time by delaying it?' said Sirius coldly, stepping inside. Adrian looked visibly shocked. 'Yeah, I know.'

'This isn't how he wanted to break it to you,' Luke pointed out.

'Thanks for the support, Wood,' he replied, 'but I'm leaving the team anyway.'

'What?'

'I am,' he said indifferently, 'bit of a healthy change for the team - especially for Adrian.'

He thought he saw a stab of regret mingled with shame on Adrian's face, but he turned and walked away, leaving them in a stunned silence. He walked back to the castle, intending to go back to the dormitory. By the time he had reached, however, students had already reached the Great Hall for breakfast while James, Remus and Peter made their way through the crowd of students.

'That's it!' said James exasperatedly, 'I'm taking the short cut!'

'No,' said Remus firmly, 'you're going to walk with us to the Great Hall.'

James sighed exaggeratedly, but looked surprised when he saw Sirius.

'Took you long enough,' he said.

'Yeah, I just left the team,' he said bluntly.

'What?' said James, halting suddenly, as did Remus, wide - eyed.

'Adrian was sort of yelling about kicking me off the team, so I left of my own free will.'

'Adrian was telling you about removing you?' said Remus incredulously.

'Yeah,' he confirmed, 'anyway, I'm up for breakfast. Anyone else?'

'Me,' said James immediately.

'Never forget about food, whatever happens, eh?' said Remus, rolling his eyes.

'All right, all right, my sincere condolences on your loss,' he said solicitously, bowing exaggeratedly to Sirius.

'Cut out the dramatics, mate.'

'You're both a bunch of clowns,' said Remus impatiently, before cuffing them on their heads and dragging them to the Great Hall. 'Hold on,' he said apprehensively, addressing James and Sirius, 'you two haven't done anything this time, have you?'

'Can't do much without the loony, brainy marauder, Remus,' said James, grinning.

'My sincere condolences on losing your head,' retorted Remus.

'Hey! I object strongly to that statement!'

'Never heard a truer word, Rem,' said Sirius, smirking. 'Now will you just sit down and get on with breakfast? I'm starving.'

'Aren't you always?' muttered James, wolfing down an entire salami.

'Can you be a little more refined?' said Remus.

'Nope, Rem, you must eat food, not chew it,' said Sirius, taking an even larger mutton chop and tearing off the flesh.

'No use telling you,' sighed Remus defeatedly.

'Noostellidamarodars,' said Sirius.

'Pathetic, Si,' snorted James. 'Listen,' he added in an undertone, when Remus was not looking, 'we're going to the library when we have History of Magic.'

'Yeah, good idea,' Sirius muttered back, keeping a cautious eye on Remus. 'I'm all for skiving off that stupid subject.'

But, at that precise moment, Remus turned back, and both James and Sirius hastily returned to their breakfast.

James flung the Invisibility Cloak which he had inherited from his father over Sirius and himself. They quietly snuck out of the Gryffindor Tower as one of the first - years gave the Fat Lady the password and climbed out. They reached the Hogwarts Library soon enough, and James took off the Cloak and, folding and shrinking it, put it inside his pocket.

'Come on,' he said, pointing his wand in a random direction and saying, 'Accio Rare and Dangerous Magical Beasts.'

A surprisingly medium - sized book flew gracefully out of one of the faraway shelves, and James caught it in midair.

'Obedire Ordinem,' he said, pointing his wand at the book, which fell open, and whose pages flipped until they came to a halt at page ninety nine.

It was heavily detailed, with a meticulously drawn and labelled diagram of a werewolf, and another of a human transforming into one. Below it, in small letters, were seven paragraphs :

A werewolf is a human being who, upon the complete rising of the full moon, transforms, both physically and mentally, into a fearsome and deadly near - wolf. Werewolves may be distinguished from regular wolves by several, though insignificant, individualistic characteristics, such as the pupils of the eyes, the snout shape, and the tufted tail. At all other times, they appear as normal humans, though will often seem to be ill as the full moon approaches.

This condition is caused by infection with Lycanthropy, usually occurring when a human is bitten by a transformed werewolf. With each full moon the person transforms and no longer remembers who he or she is, and would kill even their best friend given the opportunity. In spite of that, they seem to be able to recall everything they have experienced during the transformation, upon reverting to human form. There is no known cure for either the bite of a werewolf in his wolf-form or the bite of a werewolf in his human form.

Lycanthropy is a magical illness known to be spread by saliva-blood contact; thus, a human being bitten by a werewolf in wolf - form will become a werewolf himself or herself. However, if a human is bitten by a werewolf in human-form, the victim will only acquire or retain some lupine tendencies.

However, it seems that werewolves, when in their animal state, pose the danger of biting the nearest human being, but not animals. Though they can live otherwise normal lives, on every full moon a werewolf will go through an incredibly painful transformation from a human into a wolf - like creature. They lose the ability to think in a human way, becoming highly aggressive towards humans - even those to whom they are close. Though werewolves usually only infect their victims through biting, they sometimes take it too far and kill their victims.

Contrary to popular belief, werewolves are invulnerable to silver. They are not as easily susceptible to diseases, illnesses or affliction as normal humans, and have heightened senses manifesting in improved sense of hearing, smell and distinctively greater strength and speed. However, they may acquire injuries, scars and wounds as easily as normal humans. They have a harmonious and at rare occasions, submissive association with other animals.

Werewolves are known to have a instinctive, inexplicable enmity towards other creatures such as centaurs and unicorns, or primarily those who exhibit equal magical prowess. They have an uncanny taste for blood and flesh, and, if feeding on a full moon, will hunt and feed only on the prey which it kills. They avoid sunlight and warmth, and have evolved such that they transform only on a full moon night, when there is maximum darkness and coldness.

They have been classified as, especially when in wolf form, XXXXX by the Ministry of Magic and as a Being by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Both James and Sirius looked up at the same time.

'And,' whispered James, 'that's why I thought... that if there was a way out ... we already know that Remus could interact with animals instead of humans on every full moon, it keeps his mind off hurting himself and others.'

'Yeah ... that's all right, but what -?' said Sirius.

'Accio Animaguses : Guide to Transformation,' murmured James quietly, pointing his wand forward. A thick, leather bound black book flew through the air and Sirius caught it. James flicked his wand again and the pages ruffled until coming to a halt at page one hundred and twelve.

'Do you know how to duplicate it?' he said quietly.

'Well, yeah,' said Sirius, taken aback, 'but why? We've got the material on Animagus transformations already.'

'I'm going to take this book,' he said, 'we'll need it later.'

'Okay ...' said Sirius, and then waved his wand at the book, muttering, 'Geminio.'

The book doubled. Another identical one appeared beside it.

'We're late!' hissed James, 'we're going to be locked in if we don't get out now!' he glanced around hurriedly, before pointing his wand at the book and saying, 'Diminuendo.' The book shrank, and he pocketed it instantly as Madam Pince arrived, and then chased them out.

'Whoa!' said Sirius, as they exited the library and made their way to the Gryffindor tower, 'she seriously needs to calm down.'

'No jokes now, Si,' said James, 'I'm dead tired.'

'You've overworking your brain,' said Sirius, 'you know it can't take much load.'

'Shut up,' advised James, striding to the portrait of the Fat Lady, 'Elf Ears.'

'Indeed,' she said approvingly, and the portrait swung open to reveal a vacant common room. They silently went up to the Boys Dormitory, and both collapsed, exhausted, on the bed.

'Night,' yawned James, putting his wand and glasses on his bedside and falling asleep almost immediately.

'Yeah,' said Sirius sleepily, turning and falling into the blissful oblivion of sleep.

Sirius, James and Peter crouched under the Invisibility Cloak, wandering aimlessly through the hallways of Hogwarts.

'Exactly what is it that you're trying to do?' hissed Sirius impatiently.

'Yes, I mean, we've just been walking around like this for the past fifteen minutes!' Peter added exasperatedly.

'You'll see when we ge -' he paused suddenly and moved backwards, accidentally stepping on Sirius' foot as he did so. 'Aha! Found it!'

'What?' snapped Sirius, wincing.

'Come on, get inside!' said James urgently, shoving Peter inside, who was followed by Sirius.

'Mate, I swear, if you're not going to tell me what this is about in a minute -' began Sirius warningly.

'Alright, alright!' said James hastily, stepping out from under the Cloak, 'I'm getting to it!'

'You'd better,' muttered Sirius.

'Okay, Pete, you know that Remus is a -' began James, but Sirius lunged forward, knocking him off balance.

'What?' he said, affronted.

'Someone could be listening, you idiot!' snarled Sirius. 'Clausus Sanus,' he continued quietly, walking around in a circle, and felt a faint rippling in the air surrounding him, as though they were encircled by a magical shield which no sound could penetrate.

'Alright,' he said finally, when he was done, 'go on.'

'OK, so you know that Remus is a werewolf, right?' he said inquiringly, and both Sirius and Peter nodded. 'OK. Well, a few days ago, I was going through the library, you know, researching on werewolves, and I came across a book called Rare and Dangerous Magical Beasts. Anyway, this book had all the major facts about them. There was a line that said that werewolves would normally harm humans standing near them on a full moon, but somehow they don't harm animals. In fact, they'd live with them quite peacefully. You remember having read that, don't you?'

Sirius nodded, and so did Peter.

'Right, so ... once we become Animaguses -'

'- if we become Animaguses.' Sirius interjected.

'- yeah, that. Anyway, humans aren't capable of Telepathy, but in animal form, it's possible. There's a potion for that. If it's made right, and drunk sometime before the transformation, after transforming -'

'- we'll be able to hear each other's thoughts. But the time between drinking it and transforming had got to be the same as the time it takes to transform, right? I've heard of the potion. The time span's probably because the mental change takes as long as the physical change.'

'Good,' said James, looking rather relieved that Sirius had cottoned on. Peter, however, looked merely baffled.

'So ...' said Peter slowly, 'how does this help Remus?' Sirius looked him disbelievingly. How was it possible that he still could not see what was so obvious?

'Oh, come on,' said James exasperatedly, 'look, when Remus transforms, he can't control his mind. As long as we're in human form, we can't communicate with him through our thoughts. But once we're in animal form -'

'- our emotions and thoughts will be as simple as the werewolf's, so we can talk to him - in a sense. We'll be able to stop him without always having to do it physically.'

'How long does it take to do it?' said Peter.

'The potion? Takes four months to brew.'

'Four months?' said Peter incredulously.

'It's worth a shot,' said James simply.

'But how are we going to do it?' said Peter, 'as Sirius said, it takes a lot of time ...'

'We'll try,' said James firmly, staring determinedly at Sirius and Peter.

'Fine,' said Sirius, with a hopeful feeling that this might work, and another ominous one that this might not end well. 'If it's Remus, I'm all for it.'

'Yes, we could try once,' said Peter.

'Should, Peter, and keep trying until we can do it,' said James fiercely, 'Remus deserves better.'